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Resistance comes in myriad forms
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 19 April 2012 10:56
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Fadi Abu Sada-PNN - There has always been a debate on methods of Palestinian resistance, the most intense being between the armed and popular resistance, but sometimes the approach of diplomacy is the most hotly contested. The debate was sparked again this week after Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad announced his document, “End the Occupation and Establish the State of Palestine.” It talks about strategic projects and the readiness of institutions to enable Palestinians to declare their own state.
During a meeting in Ramallah on Tuesday to announce the plan, Fayyad was clear using unique terms of what the government has done and is still doing, so that those who attended were left with full confidence that what was being talked about will actually be implemented during the coming two years. Most important of the “strategic projects” is the Valley Airport and railway, with plans even going so far as to think of an oil refinery in the occupied Palestinian territory. In the eyes of the government, this is the best kind of resistance.
"Liberate ourselves from that which is forbidden in the eyes of the occupation," Fayyad wrote in his document. He said that building strong institutions that can take responsibility and have the capacity to provide basic services to citizens is also resistance.
Installing the concepts of good governance and good performance at work, while being dedicated to transparency as a principle of work is also resistance, Fayyad continued.
“Any Palestinian government, specifically the current government, is the government of development and security for the citizens, and the government is in partnership with its citizens, which makes the process of getting rid of the occupation that much faster. That is also resistance. Drawing the road to Palestine as a modern, progressive, democratic Arab State is another kind of resistance.”
If we believe that this plan is just the beginning of the road but not the end of it, and if we have a sense of ownership and belonging to it, we will feel the possibility of achieving it, and can impose a new reality not only regarding the Israelis, but with the entire world. The title of the document is seen as a unifying title, where all the Palestinians agreed on the issue of ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state, and this is definitely resistance that deserves recognition.
Succeeding in ending the three bad terms used for a lengthy period throughout the world when describing Palestinians: thieves, terrorists, incompetent, is another form of resistance. When Palestinians are ready to announce their own state in two years, in will be a reality that the world will have to deal with, this is also resistance.
The document continued to state that resistance is: when we succeed in creating a deferent reality, and having a government that supports the President and the PLO on the negotiating track, and when we succeed in making a break through in the occupation, and when we succeed in creating a new way of understanding that the current situation is unacceptable for us as Palestinians, this is also resistance.
The plan to build an airport in the Jordan Valley is another part of Fayyad’s new political vision, and says that he would like to welcome US President Barack Obama there. He says it will be an international airport, and this too is resistance.
Fayyad’s overall vision became clear, which is to move forward regardless of the occupation and not wait to be rid of it before moving forward, “because we can do what we want to, if we really want it, and this is also resistance.”
